The last game of the regular season last Wednesday night, June 19, was just the beginning of the dominating soccer play by Team Jiffy Lube. In a shocking defeat against the number one ranked team, Gulfview Windows and Doors, Danny Anderson’s Jiffy Lube squad paved its way to the quarterfinal games to be played Thursday night.
Despite its nearly flawless record, Gulfview, lead by Ryan Moss, could only put one goal on the scoreboard.
Jiffy Lube started quick out of the gates with the one-two punch of Anderson and Omar Polar. Anderson’s pass to Polar was right on the money, allowing Polar to hammer the shot less than five minutes into the game.
Three minutes later, Anderson got his first goal after several shots were taken and saved by Gulfview goalkeeper Jordan DeMers, who was credited with nine saves in the game.
Veteran player Ed Moss scored the one and only point for his son’s team in the ninth minute of play, taking the score to 2-1.
Flawless play by Jiffy Lube and unforced errors by Gulfview allowed Anderson to hit the net for the second time in the game.
With a two-goal lead, the game became a defensive battle leading up to the half. Jiffy Lube keeper Robb Marshall worked hard to keep the soccer ball out of his net with eight saves in the game.
To start the second half of play, Ricky Anderson scored his team’s fourth goal only to be followed by another goal by teammate Anil Akbulut, advancing the score to 5-1.
Moss took over in goal, putting DeMers on the field. Jiffy Lube’s Eliza Falliace took her shot only to be saved by R. Moss.
Taking the ball the full length of the pitch at The Center, D. Anderson found a scoring opportunity and took the shot for his team’s sixth goal.
Falliace took another shot against R. Moss that went just left of the post. R. Anderson fired a cannon that was just over the crossbar.
With less than eight minutes left in the game, Falliace hit the net for a goal of her own, widening the Jiffy Lube lead with a score of 7-1 to finish the game.
In a season with 10 teams, wild card games between the bottom four teams had to be played to determine the quarterfinal contenders. Moss Builders, lead by Diego Felipe, took the field against defending champions Sato Real Estate with team captain Josh Sato.
After 50 minutes of play, the regulation play ended with the score of 3-3, leading to a shootout. Sato Real Estate came out on top despite rocket shots by Amy Ivin and Jake Parsons. Goalkeeper Jason Sato’s skillful saves gave his brother’s team the opportunity to finish on top critical goals by Josh Sato, Murat Akay, and Steve Wertovitch.
The last quarterfinal game played Thursday night ended in another nailbiter. Once again, fifth seed Team Jiffy Lube prevailed, but this time in a shoot out after regulation play ended with the score 3-3 against the fourth seed Blalock Walters squad.
Missed shots by Matt Plumber and Stephen Perry, against Jiffy Lube keeper Sean Flynn, cost the team of lawyers the game. The netted shots by Greg DeMeuse and Matt Staggs just were not enough against the skillful strikes of O. Polar, Emily Taylor, R. Anderson and D. Anderson. Blalock goalie Scott Rudacille’s agility and talent just was not enough Thursday night.
The stage is set for this Thursday’s semifinal match-ups and the championship game. Gulfview Windows and Doors will face Jiffy Lube June 27 at 6 p.m., while Flynn Law will take on Beach House Real Estate at 7 p.m. The championship game for the Paul “Ace” Hayward cup will be played at 8:30 p.m. with the winners of the two earlier games to end another season of adult co-ed soccer at The Center.
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